The Adams Connection

Published 10:57 am Thursday, November 6, 2008

LEROY — This town is connected. The Shooting Star Recreation Trail is the reason.

It started here two decades ago as an idea that became a reality.

Today, it stretches across eastern Mower County.

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Tomorrow … who knows? Rose Creek, first, and then Austin.

Prairie Visions volunteers are hopeful that can be done.

The reason: a new segment of the trail from Taopi to Adams has been opened.

That makes the trail’s distance 14.1 miles. Not a lot, to be sure, but given the roadblocks, literal and figurative, and delays it has taken to get that far, the people responsible for the trail’s development have reason to be proud.

“We’re happy it’s done,” LeRoy mayor Ed Koppen said. “It took a long time, but it was worth it.”

“Everybody worked so hard on the trail project,” said Eileen Hutchins, president of Prairie Visions. “The repairs and work they did on the LeRoy stretch add a lot to the trail in our town.”

Prairie Visions is the organization of volunteers from Rose Creek, Taopi, Adams and LeRoy, who work to enhance the quality of life in their communities and the rural areas around.

The trail project has been the organization’s biggest.

It originates in LeRoy, moves across an old railroad trestle bridge into Lake Louise State Park.

From there it stretches across the prairie to Taopi and now workers from Rochester Sand and Gravel have built a 4.2 mile extension to Adams.

“They had their share of difficulties,” said the LeRoy mayor, “but they persevered and it paid off.”

Koppen credited two LeRoy men, retired school teachers Charles Anderson and Jerry Utz, plus Gerald Meier, Adams, with being instrumental with the trail’s development from the start.

The trail parallels Highway 56, the main transportation artery across Mower County.

The highway has been designated the “Shooting Star Scenic Byways Wildflower and Historical Route” by the state of Minnesota.

The trail was designed, in part, to open the possibilities of tourism to the rural communities.

Future plans would have the trail connected to recreation trails in northern Iowa as well as the popular “hills and hollers” of Bluff Country in southeastern Minnesota.

Further to the west, the trail could connect with Austin’s outdoor treasure, the J.C. Hormel Nature Center and the city’s linear trail system.

But, that’s tomorrow. Today, Prairie Visions volunteers are savoring the opening of the Adams trail extension.

On Wednesday morning, Prairie Visions volunteers Utz and Meier assembled with friends, including Dale Vandenover, at the popular Rose Pedlar coffee, lunch and gift shop outside Rose Creek.

After some deliberation, the trio recalled it has taken six years to extend the trail to Adams after the Taopi trail head was dedicated in 2002.

“I just feel great,” said Meier, whose house is located across Highway 56 at the west edge of Adams where the new trail head will be located. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

“We’ve been working on this since the early 1990s,” he said. “I would say we actually got started on the trail sometime in 1991.”

“We were fortunate because we had people in the LeRoy area that donated their land for the trail,” Meier said.

Avid bicyclist and Prairie Visions volunteer Vandenover shared Meier’s relief and enthusiasm. “We’ve been working on this for a long time, and it’s a real relief to get the Adams portion done and that will make it easier to get the Rose Creek segment done, too,” he said.

Not to be over-shadowed is the trail improvements at LeRoy.

“An old railroad trestle was restored by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources behind Riverside Apartments in LeRoy,” Utz said. “It’s almost 400 feet long, and it’s a lot safer on the east side of Highway 14 than it was before,” he said.

The Friends of the Lake Louise State Park organization will hold ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremonies for both segments sometime next spring.

Also, it’s possible the annual mid-summer Prairie Visions trail ride across Mower County will include the newly completed 14.1 mile segment.

Health and fitness, as well as recreation, are tangible benefits all walkers and bicyclists can enjoy on the trail.

Boosting the economy in the area is another.

“It’s good for Mower County, but the whole state as well,” Utz said. “The Clean Water Act, which was approved Tuesday, will help direct funds for trails and the arts as well as cleaning up the environment.”

According to Utz, that infusion of money could further enhance the Shooting Star trail’s presence in Mower County.

Already, Utz said bicyclists are using the trail to travel to LeRoy for lunch and shopping.

Sweet’s Restaurant in the Hotel LeRoy is noticing an increase in business.

“Right off the bat, we’re seeing economic benefits,” Vandenover said. “They are going to LeRoy for lunch, and they’re coming from LeRoy to Adams to eat at Bubbles’ Cafe.”

At LeRoy, where the trail began, it’s noticeable. Taopi, too, and now Adams, according to Vandenover.

“One thing that means something is the pride of citizens in this area to have this bike trail. It’s everywhere,” he said.

The economic boon was also noticed at Lake Louise State Park, one of the few state parks where camping use increased in 2008.

Campers in the state park not only have the beautiful forest and prairie to enjoy, they have a hiking and biking trail at their disposal too.

At a September trail ride across Mower County co-sponsored by the DNR’s Parks and Trails division and Prairie Visions, bicyclists from far away came to Mower County to enjoy biking the trail and staying overnight.

“There’s an impact to come down the road, because those people will come back and tell more people about what the Shooting Star Trail has to offer.”

At a meeting earlier this year at Rose Creek, Mower County Commissioners Ray Tucker, District 2, and David Hillier, District 3, met with landowners of the railroad right-of-way property between Adams and Rose Creek, where the next trail extension will be constructed.

Unlike the Taopi to Adams segment, which wasn’t settled until a district court case was upheld in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the Adams to Rose Creek segment appears ready for trail development. Nobody has objected to the trail’s location and county highway department engineer Mike Hanson is preparing the design specifications for construction next spring.

Prairie Visions will host its annual “Pat on the Back” dinner meeting Monday, Nov. 17, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Rose Creek City Hall.

The Dutch treat cost is $10.

For more information or to make a reservation, call Becky Hartwig at The Rose Pedlar, 434-0500, or visit their Web site at www.rosepedaler. com.